Wolverine's had a rough time of things lately. First his new movie was landed with a plonkingly stupid title and then a rough cut of it was leaked onto the internet. The illegal copy was then roundly hammered by all the critics brave enough to admit they'd watched it and the film's midweek release here in the UK has done nothing to blunt the savagery of the reviews it's receiving.

Fans of the claw-flaying, cigar-chomping knucklehead, as well as gamers in general, would be forgiven for thinking that the movie's video game spin-off should be avoided like the plague. After all, games that are tied into movie franchises are usually very poor in quality to begin with, so how good could a game that's based on a such a critically panned movie conceivably be?

The short answer is very good indeed. In fact, Raven Software's new X-man-themed title accomplishes two impressive feats; not only is it better than the film it's based on, it's one of the best movie-tie-in games ever released. Cynics will probably point out at this stage that neither of these accolades is exactly high praise, so allow me to be a little more blunt; X-Men Origins: Wolverine is one of this year's better releases. It's not note-perfect by any means and contains its fair share of niggles, but as a combat game it's satisfyingly visceral and solidly entertaining.

The game loosely follows the events of the movie, which traces the origins of the character from his time as a black-ops soldier in Africa, to how he got his adamantium skeleton, to his quest for revenge against his half-brother, Sabretooth. As you’d expect for a character that wields metal claws and possess the innate ability to heal physical damage, Wolverine racks up a healthy bodycount on his travels and it’s here we should address the game’s age rating.

While the film has been classified a 12A by the BBFC, gamers under the age of 18 (and their parents) should be aware that the video game isn’t suitable for children outside its age certificate. Over the 10 or so hours it takes to beat this game, players will use Wolverine to stab, slice, decapitate, dismember and occasionally impale opponents in flurry of flying blood and body parts. From its initial development, which reportedly began before the film even went into production, the team at Raven wanted to present Wolverine as a vicious and feral beast and the final game stays true to their original vision.

The God Of War franchise is an obvious influence on X-Men Origins: Wolverine and not just the because the X-Man’s violent nature and penchant for slicing foes up are behavioural matches for the Ghost of Sparta. The gameplay is viewed from a third-person perspective and is divided up between bloody battles with multiple foes, tough and cinematic boss battles and puzzle solving.

The combat, as has been mentioned, is gory and exhilarating; like many games of this type, the combat is broken up into weak and heavy attacks, throws, combos, special moves and block and counter attacks. Wolverine does a lot of his fighting at close quarters, but for attackers that are further away, there's the lunge move; by targeting an opponent with a tap of the right shoulder button players can then tap the left to launch Wolverine in a flying attack across the screen, which ends with him plunging his claws through the target's chest. This move also doubles as a means to cross wide gaps that can't be bridged with a double jump. The lunge can feel overpowered at times, particularly in the early stages where it can effectively be used to defeat entire squadrons of enemies. In later stages, however, it balances out as more and more enemies prove effective at countering it.

As well as the lunge, Wolverine also has access to an array of hyper-violent quick-kills as well as the ability to use items in his environment – such as forklifts, cement mixers and high ledges – to kill off opponents. There's also an array of rage upgrades which allow for spinning attacks, flying drill eviscerations and bezerker rages which increase the overall damage done to opponents. Dispatching enemies (as well as collecting dog-tags from fallen soldiers) earns experience points which can then be used to level-up Wolverine's abilities such as the damage of his claws and his ability to heal rapidly. Players can also collect mutagens which allow Wolverine to generate more experience from kills, increase the damage of rage attacks and boost defences. The levelling-up system allows players to customise Wolverine's abilities in a variety of ways, but it's easy to use and doesn't break up the flow of play too much.

Away from the bloodletting, Wolverine occasionally has to solve puzzles – which usually involve avoiding gunfire with timed bursts of speed or pulling crates or slabs of concrete onto pressure pads – or navigate his way across platforms and up walls. It's here his feral sense power helps immensely; by tapping up on the D-pad the screen takes on a sepia tinge and ledges and pathways that Wolverine can climb are marked in green. The feral sense power can also be used to spot traps or cloaked enemies. The solutions to the puzzles themselves aren't immediately obvious but they also aren't particularly challenging; on repeat run-throughs they may break up the action a little, but they don't ruin the overall pacing of the game.

While it's true that a lot of these gameplay elements have been done before, the way they've been packaged is intuitive and entertaining. The combat has some repetitive elements to it – the wendigo and rock leviathan bosses are always defeated the same way – and the AI does seem a little idiotic at times, but overall the gleeful thrill of whirling Wolverine between opponents, changing up to quick-kills and carving up multitudes of opponents rarely gets old.

This immediate sense of fun also glosses over some of the game's visual hiccups as the high-production cut-scene clips jar somewhat against the in-game scenes. The game's graphics could have done with a little more polish before release to be sure. The sound and voice acting is mostly well done; Hugh Jackman turns his usual solid work on his signature character and Liev Schrieber adds gravelly menace to a very underused Sabertooth. The rest of the movie's cast are absent from the game, but the remaining voice artists turn in solid performances.

The only other concern centres around the game's replay value. Once the game is finished, players who aren't obsessives or fans of the character may feel little desire to replay the game depending on their desire to complete it on a harder level or unlock all of Wolverine's outfits.

As was mentioned earlier, Wolverine can feel fairly rushed at times, but it delivers on Raven's promise to craft a game that makes the best use of the character in this medium so far. It may not break new ground for its genre of game, but it certainly performs better than expected for a movie-tie-in. Like its central character it's a violent, ferocious beast which more than makes up for its lack of perfection by being brutally entertaining.